"That's quite nice of your mother to order chocolate frogs for you. My mother would have never let me - much less buy me a bag full of it." Serena praised Io, sitting back down on the chaise that she had been occupying earlier and waiting until the two younger girls had taken their seats as well. Then, addressing them both, she smiled "Its a lot like Hogwarts actually, it had its own castle and its own expanse of forests. Although, since Ilvermorny is located on a summit of a very high mountain, there's not as much land as Hogwarts has." Her eyes turned wistful as she looked towards the underwater window again "Oh, but the view - the view was always so stunning."

She then turned to the two girls and asked "What about you both? Was Hogwarts was your first choice in school?"

Choice? Violet didn't remember being given any choice. Hogwarts was just where one went in Britain. "I guess I never thought about it that much. Hogwarts is where everyone in my family went and when I got the letter, it was just assumed that's where I'd go. By all of us." Quite frankly, Violet had just been thrilled to get the letter--up until that point she had had a niggling fear deep inside that she wasn't really a proper witch and wouldn't get to go to Hogwarts.

"Oh." Serena answered. She knew that Hogwarts was the only wizarding school in the Great Britain, but she wasn't aware that it was a slightly mandatory experience "Well at least that removes a lot of stress of picking a school, right?" It was probably easier, just receiving your admissions letter on the day you turn 11, rather than having to weigh pros and cons about different schools. "America has two wizarding schools. We have Ilvermorny, it was my school, and the Salem Institute. Both of them are in Massachusetts, but Ilvermorny is on Mount Greylock, and Salem is further East.

Violet mused on the idea of there being two separate schools in America, and yet they were both in the same small area of what seemed to her to be a very large country. She was actually surprised there were only two. "It's funny that the two schools you have should be so close together--I always imagined there to be lots of schools over there, all different. I mean you have so many different cultures and histories over in America, you would think there would be be schools for all of those." Actually, Violet wondered if there actually were some more schools and they just preferred to remain hidden.

She glanced over to the window, where a small group of students were talking quietly and looking steadily at the Lake. She thought of how she had been out at the Great Lake herself a short while ago, looking for the Giant Squid with some other girls, and wondered if she would see it swimming by now under the water. She thought gloomily of the fact that there was a Hogsmeade weekend planned and she would not be able to go, because her grandfather had refused to sign the permission slip after her escapades last year. But most of all, she thought of the fact that Miss Howard had found her beloved magpie, Mack, and managed to sent her a letter with him. That was not permitted by her family, of course, but Miss Howard wouldn't let a little thing like that stop her--Jane should have known the woman would find a way to reach her. She placed her hand on the pocket where the letter lay and wondered what Miss Howard had to say to her.

Violet had a point, it was weird when you thought about it, America was huge, and it didn't make sense to only have one wizarding school. Europe was tiny in comparison, and they had at least three! The 4th year shrugged "There are probably other schools, but my dad was an Ilvermorny Almuni, so we wasn't willing to look at any other schools asides from his. And they weren't willing to send me to Hogwarts - where my mum graduated at that time because we were still living in the states."

Suddenly remembering that Violet had mentioned that she had been to New York before, she turned towards the younger girl who looked deep in thought as she stared at the view of the lake from their windows "You've been to New York before, yeah?"

Violet flushed slightly and looked down at her lap. "Yeah, I was there last year...with my father.

Serena gave a non-noticeable start at the short answer. Had she offended her with the question? She seemed enthusiastic enough earlier about the topic. Knowing she probably wasn't going to get an answer about it - it was probably a personal matter. The blonde let it slide.

"Ahh. I see"

Serena looked around the common room and was surprised to find it somewhat deserted. They had probably been talking for hours now, and Violet probably was tired, or had other things to do. She did seem particularly occupied earlier.

"We should probably get to bed." She said with a smile. She didn't want the younger girl to think that she was shooing her away or anything. "Its pretty late, and we still have early classes tomorrow." And homework, Merlin, she didn't want to think of the homework that was waiting for her upstairs too.

"Its been pleasant to meet you Violet, I had a really nice time."

"Me, too. It was really good to meet you, Serena," Violet said, and found she really meant it. It seemed a long time since she had had a decent conversation with anyone. Violet looked around and found the company in the Common Room had thinned out a bit, and no one was paying any attention to her. This seemed like the right time, at last, so she pulled the letter that Machiavelli had brought to her, it seemed like ages ago, down by the Great Lake.

The envelope was addressed to:
Miss Violet Blackthorne
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Witchery

Violet looked at the return address--it was somewhere in London. Then she opened the letter carefully and quietly and began to read:


Violet sat before the fire looking at the letter for a long time. Then she carefully folded the letter and slipped it back into her pocket. Then she tossed the envelope into the smoldering fire in the fireplace and went to bed.